Just One Bullet
by thecoookiecutter
Summary: The wound from a bullet might not seem like much, but the damage it causes can last a lifetime. Warning: M-Rated XS fanfic for swearing (duh!), some violence and very little smut that probably doesn't even count as smut.
1. Chapter 1

Everything had gone all wrong right from the beginning.

It had been very quiet at the Varia base. Well quieter than usual. The silence didn't actually last that long. Xanxus was still ordering his right hand man around and throwing everything in his sight at the poor Squalo. But the rest of the Varia had all gone on vacation courtesy of their boss, which was highly unusual and unlike him.

When they were told the news, Belphegor had just given his usual sadistic smile. Mammon didn't really care too much, he would just go off and scam someone else out there. Lussuria smiled, winked at Squalo and told him to have fun (which caused Squalo to shout at him as he left. "Voii! Piss off!"). And Levi, well Levi was the only person who objected to the vacation. He did not want anyone else to be left alone with their boss, especially not Squalo. If anything it should've been him. So as he begged and pleaded to stay, Squalo had to knock him out and drag him into the car. The rest of the Varia left quickly as to not give Levi the chance to regain consciousness, the silver haired swordsman put his hand against his head, swore a bit before letting out a sigh and walking back into the mansion to go and cater to some other bullshit need his boss had.

Xanxus lay there on his chair in his office watching the rest of his subordinates leave. He smirked to himself. He was definitely going to enjoy the rest of this week. Just as he was about to call Squalo over, the phone rang. "Fuck!" He growled as he went to pick it up. His fun was going to have to be put on hold.

Squalo lay on his bed facing the ceiling whilst staring at his reflection through his newly polished sword. He was contemplating his life during these last eight years. What had he actually accomplished? Most of that time was spent on researching Xanxus and his past, there was very minimal training that had occurred. And yet, why? Who would spend so long waiting for someone when there was such a little chance that they would be coming back. Who wouldn't have spent the rest of their teen years doing what ever the hell teens did.

He let out a deep sigh and put his sword down on his bedside table.

"It's probably true," he muttered to himself, "I love him."

There were countless moments where Xanxus would unexpectedly grab the swordsman and pull him into a rough kiss, many nights where Squalo would scream his name as Xanxus thrust himself relentlessly into his second in command. But still, he never actually hated it. He had grown accustomed to it over time and soon learnt to enjoy himself even though his pride would never let him admit it to the other's face.

'I need to tell him my feelings.'

'He wouldn't believe you.'

'But I'm worried that if I don't tell him now, he will go off and find some other willing slut.'

'He wouldn't care. He doesn't feel anything.'

'But still…'

Squalo screamed out in frustration.

"Fuck my life," he mumbled. Why did he have to fall in love with a being incapable of feeling any emotion but anger.

All of a sudden, he heard a large crash, the shattering of glass and then his boss's voice ringing through the air.

"TRASH! Get over here now!"

Squalo sighed again. 'That proves my point.'

In his office, Xanxus felt extremely mad. So as soon as he saw the silverette walking through his door, he couldn't help but throw his empty wine bottle at him. It flew through the air and hit Squalo right in the middle of his forehead.

"VOOOIIIIIII!" What the fuck was that for!" He exclaimed rubbing his head in pain.

"Shut up noisy shark," growled Xanxus. He got up off his chair and grabbed his jacket. "We're leaving for a meeting. Come on."

"Fine," he mumbled as he followed his boss out the mansion.

It had been a five hour drive to the forest they were going to meet in. Xanxus had received a call from Tsuna telling him to hear out the other family who Xanxus couldn't be bothered remembering their name. They were trying to create a peace treaty between the two sides so violence would be a last resort only in a desperate situation. Xanxus told Tsuna to stop bitching and that he knew what he was doing. And with that, he hung up on the Vongola boss.

And now in the car staring out the window, he was still extremely pissed and feeling kind of tired. He let out a yawn and started to close his eyes before the car stopped.

"We're there boss," said the driver, a random Varia subordinate.

He grunted his reply before getting out of the black car and slamming the door shut. Then he started to make his way to the centre of the woods followed by his trusty swordsman. When they got there, they were greeted by three men standing there waiting patiently. The man in the middle had a briefcase in his hand.

"So who are these people anyways?" Squalo whispered.

Xanxus just shrugged, he had absolutely no idea, trash wasn't worth his time.

He approached the man in the middle.

"Hello Xanxus, my name in Dabile and you no doubt know that we're here to talk about establishing a peace treaty between our two families. Now firstly… Blah blah blah…"

Xanxus' eyes began to close and he slowly dozed off in the middle of their conversation.

"So basically," he said opening his briefcase and sliding something out, "we're asking you, the Varia, to ditch the Vongola and work for us instead." He pulled a gun out and pointed it at the half-asleep man.

"Vooooooooiii! There is NO FUCKING WAY that that is happening!" Squalo shouted and with that, he pulled out his sword and knocked the other man to the ground as well as the gun out of the man's hand.

"As expected," he chuckled slowly getting up, "you're much too proud to accept this offer. Then we shall do this the fun way." As he finished his sentence, many unknown faces began to emerge from the woods. They were surrounded. And then, in a split second, all hell broke loose. Gunfire erupted and bullets flew everywhere. Squalo charged at the gunsmen and skilfully weaved his way through them, running his sword through their soft skin. There were screams as bodies started to collapse onto the ground. Meanwhile, Xanxus just stood there, still half asleep, unaware of the chaos going on around him.

Squalo smirked, this was a piece of cake. He decapitated the man closest to him and stopped to admire his work. The pure and once green grass had now been tainted with the blood of many. He surveyed the trees. Most of the backup men were gone. Some ran, some died. All of a sudden, he saw a glint of metal in the forest. It was a sniper aiming his loaded gun right onto the half conscious Varia boss.

"VOOOOOOIIIIIIII! Boss! WAKE UP!" Squalo shouted futilely but Xanxus didn't even flinch. He started to run towards him. Bang! The bullet was shot and went whizzing through the air at high speeds. Squalo ran as fast as his legs would take him to try and intercept the bullet. The bullet pierced right through his chest and narrowly scraped his heart, but it had fatally punctured some of his other organs. Squalo collapsed onto the ground, blood spurting out of the wound.

In this time, Xanxus finally woke up. It was abnormally quiet. He first noticed the bodies covered in blood blanketing the once fresh green grass. Then he realised that his second in command was nowhere to be seen. He immediately looked down at the ground and noticed Squalo lying there, his silver hair sprawled all over the blood stained grass, soaking it up to become a bright crimson colour. He sensed the sniper in the forest and sent him a spine chilling glare causing him to flee for his own life. He knelt down next to the swordsman.

"Get up trash." He said coldly.

"Sorry boss, I can't." Squalo looked into his boss's eyes.

"You get up right NOW. That's an order. I can't have you dying on me trash."

"I can't. This will be my last mission, sorry for being so useless." He coughed, blood starting to trickle from his mouth down the side of his face. "I was too weak to help you achieve your goal, and now look at me." He managed a weak chuckle.

"Are you listening? Do you dare to fucking disobey me?"

"S… Shitty boss…" Squalo mumbled. 'I need to tell him my feelings now. It's my last chance. "H…Hey Xanxus. I need to tell you something important…"

But before he could say anymore, Xanxus put his arm behind Squalo's head, leaned in and pulled the dying man into a kiss. This wasn't like their normal kisses where it felt like Xanxus was selfishly devouring him, this kiss was passionate and loving, which was very out of character for Xanxus. Squalo's eyes widened at first from surprise, but he returned it with the same amount of emotion behind it. Did this mean that this whole time, his love had never been one-sided? That as much as Xanxus seem to torture him, he had always cared about the silver haired swordsmen?

Xanxus, out of breath, eventually pulled away but never broke eye contact. The whole time, his facial expression had never changed, always wearing that same serious look. But Squalo could tell that behind those ruby eyes, he was in despair and sure as hell furious. He smiled weakly. He could feel the warm blood quickly leaving his body, he was not much longer for this world. With whatever strength left that he could muster, Squalo said four short words in his dying breath.

"I love you Xanxus."

And with that, his pulse faded away, his breathing stopped and the last of his life left his body. Using his fingers, Xanxus softly closed Squalo's eyes and slowly picked him up bridal style. His left arm cradling the dead man's head close to his chest, not giving a damn about the blood staining his clothes. Anyone left over was too scare to even move. No one in their right mind would be willing to confront Xanxus in the state he was in.

So he carried Squalo back through the forest to where their car was parked.

'How could such a simple mission go so wrong?'

The driver said nothing when he saw Xanxus emerging out of the woods with the dead swordsman in his arms. Xanxus laid the body along the back seats and sat himself in the front. He wiped the blood off his lips from their last kiss and gazed out the window, his heart still in pain from the loss. The car slowly began to move as they started their journey back to the Varia mansion.

Not once did he shed a tear.


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2:

Xanxus sat in his chair, head resting on top of his hand. The paperwork on his desk was piling up but he didn't care. The Varia boss was deep in thought at the moment about the recent events.

As soon as he had gotten back from the forest, he made sure someone alerted the other members about an issue and forced them to come back.

So the rest of the Varia members had arrived back at their base, confused and disappointed to have lost their vacation. They were all called into Xanxus's office.

"What the fuck boss, why did you call us back? The prince needs his vacation." Belphegor whined.

"Yeah, I had already prepared myself a night of fun," Lussuria said.

"And I had made my own plans too," added Mammon.

Levi, looked around, he was the only one that was glad to be back. He couldn't trust the shark to be alone with his beloved boss. However, something seemed to be amiss.

"Hey boss, where's Squalo?" He asked finally realising the absence of the silver haired swordsman.

He looked up at his confused guardian and smirked.

"That piece of trash? He's dead."

Most people would expect silence, grief, tears maybe at losing a comrade and some sort of a friend, but the Varia were different.

"Ushishishishi," Bel laughed, "The prince knew that he would always die first."

Levi tried to hide his huge grin but to no avail. He was ecstatic that Squalo was gone. Maybe the boss would pay attention to him now.

Mammon looked down and stayed silent. No one could really tell what he was feeling right now as his hooded cloak covered any emotions that may have arisen.

Lussuria was the only one who seem saddened by the loss. He had always treated Squalo like a younger brother and now he was gone.

Fighting back tears, he asked, "So are we going to bury him or what?"

"Yeah," Xanxus grunted. "I told that Tsuna brat and he told me that out of tradition and respect or some bullshit like that we're to hold a funeral for him so those brats are all coming over next week. I don't see the fucking point though. Trash is trash, it doesn't need to be buried."

Lussuria opened up his mouth to object to that last statement but then thought better of it and stopped.

"We'll need to find ourselves another rain guardian to replace him the shark too." Xanxus added.

"Yes boss," Lussuria said before managing a weak smile. "We'll go prepare then," he said leaving the room followed by the rest of the Varia.

It was quiet, far too quiet without Squalo shouting all throughout the mansion. Xanxus yawned. He couldn't sleep at all and was up all night so he was extremely tired. He had been distracted by the loss of Squalo. Although he didn't seem like anything more than a fucktoy, Xanxus had ended up falling in love with him. From his luscious silver locks that would flow so gracefully when he fought to his flawless pale skin that would sometimes flush red when he had been yelling too much and then there was his sweet voice that would ring through the air repeatedly crying for Xanxus when they were in the bedroom.

He sighed, rested his head on his desk and eventually dozed off.

Xanxus stared at himself dressed in a black suit through the mirror as he adjusted his red tie. It was the day of Squalo's funeral. His hair was still a mess because he couldn't be bothered to neaten himself up. He hadn't wanted to put the suit on but to stop the nagging of everyone else he finally complied. A few days ago, Tsuna and his guardians had arrived and were staying in a nearby hotel until the funeral. He hadn't actually seen them since they came to Italy but he had to spoken to Tsuna once over the phone about details or something.

'This is fucking stupid,' Xanxus thought to himself. He was mad right now. He knew that Squalo was definitely not the type of person who enjoyed funerals. He hated the crowds and the endless chatter it would drive him insane. Xanxus felt that resting him in a place surrounded by people would be an insult to his memory.

He strode out his room and headed directly to the room where Squalo's dead body lay. The plan was to put him in a coffin now, and carry it over from the Varia base to the funeral. Without warning, he kicked the door down and looked at the two confused and frightened subordinates who dared not make a sound.

"I want you to take that piece of trash and place him somewhere else. Anywhere will do. You will then proceed with the funeral as planned. Do not tell ANYONE at all, if they question you, make something up. I do NOT want his fucking body to be in there when they lower the coffin into the grave. Got it?" He growled at the shaking men.

"Y…Y…Yes boss!" They stuttered in unison.

"Good." And with that, Xanxus left.

Two hours later, a car pulled up outside the gates of a cemetery and the Varia boss stepped out. A cool breeze slapped him in the face and ruffled his hair. The whole place just seemed more grey and bleak than it should've been even for a cemetery. He walked through the gates and to where the funeral would be held and was shortly followed by the rest of the Varia who emerged from the same car. Soon after that, another car pulled up and two men came out with Squalo's coffin and started to carry that over.

As he walked, Xanxus gazed at the graves around him. He wondered. How many other pieces of trash got themselves killed? How did they die? However, his thoughts were soon interrupted as he walked into a lone teenage boy in front of him. Startled, the brown haired kid looked up with his huge honey coloured eyes.

"Hie! S… Sorry Xanxus," Tsuna stuttered as Xanxus glared at him.

"You should be," he mumbled under his breath and continued walking. He wasn't really in the mood to get mad at the moment. The small boy followed him.

"S… So um Xanxus, you must be really sad over Squalo's death. I'm sorry about your loss," Tsuna said.

Xanxus snorted in amusement.

"Not at all. That piece of trash had it coming." he replied.

"But," Tsuna protested, "how could you!?" He was your friend, your family, your lov-." He put his hand to his mouth to stop himself as the words slipped out. Everyone knew about their relationship but it was deemed taboo to even mention let alone say it to Xanxus's face. "S… Sorry." Tsuna quickly added meekly and looked away.

"Lover?" Xanxus spat, "Don't make me laugh. He was merely a tool that's now outlived his usefulness. Nothing more."

Before Tsuna could say anything else, they were met with the cheerful banter of his family who had already arrived to where the funeral would take place.

"Tenth!" Cried Gokudera, "You finally made it!"

"Hey guys," Tsuna waved.

All of his guardians with the exception of Mukuro and Hibari had gathered here today for Squalo's funeral. Everyone seemed sad for the loss of the Varia swordsman but Yamamoto seemed to have been hit the hardest. He was no longer his cheery self and would seldom talk to others, not even to his friends. It was so bad that it was even affecting his baseball and he was temporarily taken off the team to regain his composure.

Tsuna walked up to his friend.

"Are you alright, Yamamoto?" He asked.

Yamamoto fakes a smile back at Tsuna and told him that he'd be fine. It was pretty unconvincing though and Tsuna eyed worriedly but said nothing more. Squalo was not only Yamamoto's mentor and role model in the way of the sword, but he also found himself developing feelings for the silver haired beauty every lesson they had.

Xanxus glared at them and opened his mouth as if to speak but was interrupted by the two Varia men carrying the coffin. This funeral was going to be quick and simple. There wasn't going to be a priest or any official announcement of Squalo's death. The Varia had organised a spot to bury the coffin in, people would say something if they felt like it and they would bury the coffin, it was as easy as that.

A few of the Varia members said a few brief words about Squalo, Tsuna and Yamamoto had also gone up to speak. Xanxus said nothing, walked up to the coffin and laid a rose, just because it was the Varia tradition. It had taken a lot of persuading for him to agree. The coffin was then lowered and buried. No one had any clue that the coffin was empty.

Xanxus had managed to slip out during this time without anybody noticing. Any one who saw him would've figured it was normal anyways. He had walked out of the cemetery and back to the cars. They were empty, even the drivers had gone to the funeral. It was perfect for Xanxus. He got in and drove off. The driver would understand, and if he didn't, he would most likely know better than to object if he valued his own life.

It was only a short drive before Xanxus pulled up by the edge of a cliff by the ocean. It had started to rain. He got out of the car and opened the trunk. There lay his lover. Squalo, dressed up in white, was as still and as beautiful as a painting. Xanxus picked him up gently bridal style looking onto his his pale face. He placed his forehead on top of his second in commands. How could he have let this happen? If only he'd been paying more attention, then Squalo would still be alive.

He carried the body and slowly walked to the edge of the cliff. The salty sea breeze brushed against his face, raindrops slowly bouncing off of him. He approached the end and looked out into the ocean below him. There lay a shiver of sharks, hungrily prowling the water looking for food.

It would be more appropriate this way.

Xanxus gave his lover one last look.

"I'm sorry."

He pressed his lips onto the other's and threw the body off the cliff and into the sea. He would rest in peace with the sharks, and he would've wanted it that way.

Xanxus stood there, staring into the ocean, rain pelting away at him. But he didn't mind. The rain was good, the rain reminded him of Squalo.

And the rain would cover up the tears running down his face.


End file.
